Method Performance Studies For Speciation Analysis

Method Performance Studies for Speciation Analysis Method Performance Studies for Speciation Analysis Philippe Quevauviller European Commission, Brussels, Belgium THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CHEMISTRY Information Services Publication no. EUR 18348 EN of the European Commission Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Knowledge Unit, Directorate General Telecommunications, Information Market and Exploitation of Research, Luxembourg. LEGAL NOTICE Neither the European Commission not any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of the following information. ISBN 0-85404-467-1 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 0The Royal Society of Chemistry 1998 All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review as permitted under the terms of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may not be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of The Royal Society of Chemistry, or in the case of reprographic reproduction only in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the Copyright Licencing Agency in the UK, or in accordance with the terms of the licences issued by the appropriate Reproduction Rights Organization outside the UK. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the terms stated here should be sent to The Royal Society of Chemistry at the address printed on this page. Published by The Royal Society of Chemistry, Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 4WF, UK For further information see our web site at www.rsc.org Typeset by Computape (Pickering) Ltd, Pickering, North Yorkshire, UK Printed by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall, UK Foreword Recent years have shown an explosive growth in methods for the quantitation of the different chemical forms of trace elements in a variety of samples. Collectively these methods are termed speciation analysis. The reasons for this growth of interest are also clear. While analytical laboratories have available a wide range of techniques for determining total elemental content, such as atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry or inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, such total elemental information yields only a partial story. For example the toxicity of an element depends dramatically upon its chemical form as does its mobility in the environment or availability to living organisms. Speciation also gives vital clues as to the origins of samples and their history. Accordingly many procedures have been proposed for speciation. Amongst the most popular are the so-called ‘hybrid techniques’ which couple separatory methods such as chromatography with detection methods such as optical or mass spectrometry. This has led to a proliferation of abbreviations, such as GC-MS, GC-AAS, GC-ICP-AES, GC-ICP-MS, HPLC-AAS, HPLC-ICPMS, HPLC-ICP-AES, SFC-ICP-MS and CZE-ICP-MS, which read more like alphabet soup than science. Before such procedures will be widely accepted in laboratories throughout the world, or the results from them given the credibility necessary to encourage legislators to include speciation requirements in regulations, confidence has to be built in these methods. Researchers in speciation have therefore to establish networks and conference infrastructures to exchange experiences and samples. Collaborative in